Creating Accessible PDFs

Under state and federal disability law, online course materials such as Blackboard documents must be accessible. When professors scan articles (with publisher permission, of course), they should use software that applies Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to the document before it is posted to Blackboard. This allows the documents to be read aloud by text-to-speech software for individuals with vision or reading disabilities.

Programs such as Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Professional, OmniPage, and ABBYY Fine Reader have OCR capability. Free 30-day trials of programs such as Adobe Acrobat are available online, while the OmniPage program is included with campus PODS scanners. Departmental offices may also have these applications available.

CREATING ACCESSIBLE PDFS

Start by determining if your PDF is already accessible by following the 'Test the PDFs Accessibility' steps below.

Creating Accessible PDFs Using Adobe Acrobat

1. To create an accessible PDF format using Adobe Acrobat, open a scanned document in Adobe Acrobat.

Click on the "Document'" pull-down menu > OCR Text Recognition > Recognize Text using OCR.Choose "All Pages." (Options are given to recognize only the Current Page or a group of pages if preferred.)Choose "Primary OCR Language: English (US)" < click "O.K".You now have a document that looks identical to the original scan, but can now be read aloud by text-to-speech software.

Adobe Acrobat/ Professional is capable of converting many different types of files into an accessible PDF. If you have a document scanned as a GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or Microsoft Office file, any of these can be made accessible for your students.

Keep in mind that if the original scan is blurry, the OCR programs will not be able to decipher the words and the document cannot be read aloud.

Some, though not all, PDFs downloaded from online databases, journals, or publishers may already be in an accessible format.

Test the file by following the steps above – you may not have to run an OCR scan.

Bartle Library Resources

There are two BookEye 4 scanners located in the Bartle Library in the Information Commons. The BookEye 4 Scanner is specifically designed to accommodate oversized and especially fragile materials as it scans from above. The scanners are capable of producing OCR PDFs and mp3 files of the original text. This high-speed scanner is capable of scans up to 17 x 24 inches and as small as a postage stamp. It scans in color or black & white and is four times faster than a desktop scanner. The library department's equipment, along with trained staff, allow for the creation of high-quality scans while even the most delicate materials are handled with the utmost attention and care.

For More Help

The ITS Helpdesk is a valuable resource and may be able to help you with any difficulties you encounter. They are available by phone at (607)-777-6420 or e-mail at helpdesk@binghamton.edu.

Staff in the SSD Office may be able to offer some guidance with making your documents accessible. For assistance, please call (607)-777-2686.